Population characteristics of endangered species Taxus chinensis var. mairei and its conservation strategy in Shanxi, China

Insights from multi-omics integration into seed germination of Taxus chinensis var mairei

The transition from deep dormancy to seed germination is essential for the life cycle of plants, but how this process occurs in the gymnosperm Chinese yew (Taxus chinensis var mairei), the natural source of the anticancer drug paclitaxel, remains unclear. Herein, we analyse the transcriptome, proteome, spatial metabolome, and spatial lipidome of the Chinese yew and present the multi-omics profiles of dormant and germinating seeds. Our results show that abscisic acid and gibberellic acid 12 homoeostasis is closely associated with gene transcription and protein translation, and the balance between these phytohormones thereby determines if seeds remain dormant or germinate. We find that an energy supply of carbohydrates from glycolysis and the TCA cycle feed into the pentose phosphate pathway during seed germination, and energy supplied from lipids are mainly derived from the lipolysis of triacylglycerols. Using mass spectrometry imaging, we demonstrate that the spatial distribution of plant hormones and phospholipids has a remarkable influence on embryo development. We also provide an atlas of the spatial distribution of paclitaxel C in Chinese yew seeds for the first time. The data from this study enable exploration of the germination mechanism of Chinese yew seeds across several omics levels.

Geospatial analysis to assess distribution patterns and predictive model for endangered Lilium mackliniae Sealy: to support management decisions

Lilium mackliniae Sealy is a species endemic to the Indo-Myanmar Biodiversity Hotspot with confined occurrence in the Shirui hills of Manipur (India). A rapid fragmentation of the species resulted in enlisting the remaining population as endangered. Tribal communities have managed this population in national parks for in situ conservation because of its sacred value. Maximum entropy-based modeling was performed with 19 bioclimatic and six geospatial variables on 65 true presence data to assess the threat on its only habitat. The accuracy of modeling was confirmed by an AUC value of 0.989. Among the variables used for habitat modeling, elevation range was a key predictor of the species distribution, followed by land use class and annual temperature range. Additionally, the model projected a similar habitat for the species in the same district. This study, therefore, provides essential information for the conservation and management of the species.

Vegetation dynamics and soil nutrient availability in a temperate forest along altitudinal gradient of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Western Himalaya, India

This study examined forest structure, composition, and regeneration patterns of two sites, Tolma-Lata-Raini (TLR) and Bhyundar-Ghangaria (BG). Both sites are located within the temperate zone along the altitudinal gradient between 2,800 to 3,400 m asl of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) in the Western Himalayan Region of India. We recorded a total of 223 species of vascular plants (Angiosperm, Gymnosperm, and Pteridophytes) within the study area. Of the recorded species, plants within the family Rosaceae were dominant (17.69%), followed by Asteraceae (14.97%) and Ranunculaceae (12.93%). Betula utilis had the highest tree density (724 and 324 individuals ha-1) and species cover (44% and 36%) at both TLR and BG sites, followed by Pinus wallichiana (24%) and Cedrus deodara (15%), respectively. In BG site, 56% of tree species showed fair regeneration (i.e., seedling density > sapling density ≤ adult density), 22% good (i.e., seedling density > sapling density > adult tree density), 11% exhibited poor (i.e., species survived only in the sapling stage but not in the seedling stage), and the remaining (11%) indicated no regeneration. Comparatively, at TLR site, 40% of the tree species showed fair regeneration, 40% good, and the remaining 20% showed no regeneration. Across the two sites, species richness and diversity significantly decreased as the altitudinal gradient increased. Vegetation structure and soil properties also revealed differences between the southern and northern aspects. The baseline information generated in this study is helpful in designing effective conservation and management measures for these ecologically sensitive and important ecosystems. To effectively monitor changes in vegetation structure, species composition, and regeneration, we suggest that permanent vegetation plots with meteorological stations be established across the region for long-term monitoring of forest dynamics in response to the changing climate and anthropogenic pressures.

Ethnobotanical investigation of medicinal plants used in Lingchuan county, Shanxi, China

Abstract Medicinal plants are the primary sources of healthcare among the people of developing countries in villages and local towns. Documenting and reporting the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants may contribute to pharmaceutical research development. For this reason, we present our findings on ethnomedicinal plants from Lingchuan County, Shanxi, China, an unexplored area rich in medicinal plant resources. Information of ethnomedicinal plants were collected through questionnaire/semi-structured interviews from 180 informants, including traditional healers. Field surveys were conducted in 53 villages of Lingchuan County from 2017 to 2018. Informed consent was obtained from each participant before conducting the interview process. Quantitative analysis was performed for each recorded species, such as Relative Frequency Citation (RFC), Use Value (UV), and Factor of Informant Consensus (FIC). Diseases were categorized into twelve groups. A total 138 species of medicinal plants were recorded, belonging to 123 genera of 58 families. Asteraceae was the dominant plant family with 19 species, followed by Rosaceae and Fabaceae. Herbs were dominant among plant life-forms with 96 species, followed by shrubs and trees (15 species each). Roots were the most commonly used plant parts with 58 species, followed by whole plants and fruits (28 species each). Most plant species were reported non-toxic (84, 60%), followed by unknown toxicity (35, 25%), poisonous, and less toxic (19, 14%). Quantitative analysis revealed that Forsythia suspensa was with higher (0.33) RFC value, and Scutellaria baicalensis was recorded with a higher (0.91) UV. Treated diseases were categorized in 12 groups and evaluated by their FIC value, in which gynecological diseases have higher (0.93) FIC value followed by urinary system diseases. Most medicinal plants are used to clear away heat and relieve the surface. The present study revealed that local people of Lingchuan County confidently use ethnomedicinal plants for their healthcare needs. The higher indices value of a plant species resulted from quantitative analysis warrants further investigation, which may possess valuable phytochemical compounds that may result in new drugs for treating various human disorders.

High-Level Patchoulol Biosynthesis in Artemisia annua L

Terpenes constitute the largest class of secondary metabolites in plants. Some terpenes are essential for plant growth and development, membrane components, and photosynthesis. Terpenes are also economically useful for industry, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals. However, there is very low content of most terpenes in microbes and plants. Chemical or microbial synthesis of terpenes are often costly. Plants have the elaborate and economic biosynthetic way of producing high-value terpenes through photosynthesis. Here we engineered the heterogenous sesquiterpenoid patchoulol production in A. annua. When using a strong promoter such as 35S to over express the avian farnesyl diphosphate synthase gene and patchoulol synthase gene, the highest content of patchoulol was 52.58 μg/g DW in transgenic plants. When altering the subcellular location of the introduced sesquiterpene synthetase via a signal peptide, the accumulation of patchoulol was observably increased to 273 μg/g DW. This case demonstrates that A. annua plant with glandular trichomes is a useful platform for synthetic biology studies.

Phylogenetics of Taxus Using the Internal Transcribed Spacers of Nuclear Ribosomal DNA and Plastid trnL-F Regions

Taxus is a genus of trees and shrubs with high value in horticulture and medicine as a source of the anticancer drug paclitaxel. The taxonomy of the group is complex due to the lack of diagnostic morphological characters and the high degree of similarity among species. Taxus has a wide global geographic distribution and some taxonomists recognize only a single species with geographically defined subgroups, whereas others have described several species. To address these differences in taxonomic circumscription, phylogenetic analyses were conducted on DNA sequences using Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian Inference and TCS haplotype networks on single and combined gene regions obtained for the nuclear ribosomal ITS region and the plastid trnL intron and trnL-F intergenic spacer. Evidence is presented for the sister group status of Pseudotaxus to Taxus and the inclusion of Amentotaxus, Austrotaxus, Cephalotaxus and Torreya within Taxaceae. Results are consistent with the taxonomic recognition of nine species: T. baccata, T. brevifolia, T. canadensis, T. cuspidata, T. floridana, T. fuana, T. globosa, T. sumatrana and T. wallichiana, but evidence is found for less species distinction and considerable reticulation within the T. baccata, T. canadensis and T. cuspidata group. We compare the results to known taxonomy, biogeography, present new leaf anatomical data and discuss the origins of the hybrids T. ×media and T. ×hunnewelliana.

Response of rhizosphere bacterial community of Taxus chinensis var. mairei to temperature changes

Background

Temperature is a key factor influencing the growth and distribution of Taxus chinensis var. mairei, which is of high medicinal value. However, there is little information about the changes in rhizosphere bacterial community of Taxus chinensis var. maire under different temperatures.

Methods

In this study, the rhizosphere bacterial communities of Taxus chinensis var. maire under a series of temperatures [5°C (T5), 15°C (T15), 25°C (T25), 35°C (T35)] were assessed through high-throughput sequencing. And some taxa annotated as Mitochondria were positively correlated with the activity of SOD.

Results

Activity of peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were increased and decreased respectively with increasing incubation temperature, showing that SOD may be the dominant reactive oxygen species (ROS) detoxifying enzyme in Taxus chinensis var. maire under low temperature. Taxus chinensis var. maire enriched specific bacterial taxa in rhizosphere under different temperature, and the rhizosphere bacterial diversity decreased with increasing temperature.

Conclusion

The results indicated that rhizosphere bacteria may play important role for Taxus chinensis var. maire in coping with temperature changes, and the management of rhizosphere bacteria in a potential way to increase the cold resistance of Taxus chinensis var. mairei, thus improving its growth under low temperature and enlarging its habitats.

Molecular and ecological investigations on the wild populations of Glycyrrhiza L. taxa distributed in the East Mediterranean Area of Turkey

This paper covers studies on the molecular and ecological aspects of G. glabra var. glandulifera, G. flavescens ssp. flavescens and G. echinata collected from Hatay (Turkey); with the aim to better understand their genetic variation and ecological requirements for possible conservation programs. The material including total genomic DNA was extracted by the CTAB, and for PCR reaction, a total of 14 SSR primers developed for Medicago truncatula were used. PCR amplifications were performed in a Multigen^® Thermal Cycler. Soil samples were analysed for their texture, pH, total soluble salts, calcium carbonate, total N content, total phosphorus and organic matter content. In order to see the association between genetic, ecological and geographical data, a similarity matrix was generated. Genetic similarity distances between genotypes were correlated with those of Eucledian distances obtained from ecological and geographical data. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) was performed using GenAlEx 6.5 software to determine variation among and within genetic variations. The genetic analysis showed that the highest expected heterozygosity values were obtained from G. glabra while the lowest were obtained from G. echinata. In general heterozygosity values were low, especially for G. echinata. Therefore, variation appears to be lower within each species than among three species. The physical and chemical analysis of soil and plant samples indicates that mineral accumulation in plants is substantially affected by the soil characteristics. There is a need for identification of better strategies for the improvement of varieties, especially for small farmers managing marginal soils. More studies should be conducted in order to safeguard these taxa, especially G. glabra var. glandulifera which is collected intensively due to its economic value, the same is true for endemic taxon G. flavescens ssp. flavescens.

Effects of tourism and topography on vegetation diversity in the subalpine meadows of the Dongling Mountains of Beijing, China

Subalpine meadows in the Dongling Mountains (located at E115º26'-115º40', N40º00'-40º05') of Beijing, China are important for tourism and the provision of ecosystem services. However, because of poor management serious degradation has occurred on these subalpine meadows. The aim of this paper is to present a quantitative analysis of effects of tourism disturbance and topography on the status and diversity of montane meadow communities and to provide direction for improved management. Sixty quadrats of 2 × 2 m(2) along 10 transects were set up to collect data on site characteristics and vegetation status. The relationships between community composition and structure, species diversity, and tourism disturbance and topographic variables were analyzed by multivariate methods (TWINSPAN and CCA). The results showed that eight meadow communities were identified by TWINSPAN. Most of them were seriously degraded. The first CCA axis identified an elevation and tourism disturbance intensity gradient, which illustrated that tourism disturbance and elevation were most important factors influencing meadow types, composition and structure. Some resistant species and response species to tourism disturbance were identified and can be used as indicator species of tourism disturbance. Species richness, heterogeneity and evenness were closely related to tourism disturbance and elevation. It is concluded that tourism disturbance must be controlled to enable grassland rehabilitation to occur in the meadows. Measures of effective management of the meadows were discussed.